Sophomores share a world view

World Civilizations, a class that is offered primarily to sophomores, is available at all of the high schools in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District (FSUSD).

According to the course catalog, the class “reviews the origins and development of civilization; traces the continued development of world civilization from 1789 to the present; [and] identifies events, trends, movements and technology affecting this period of history.”

The goal of this class is to develop skills in reading, writing and research and also to develop critical thinking skills.

Armijo offers two special levels of this class that the other high schools do not have. Students in the Partnership Academy classes integrate “information systems as a research tool” according to the course catalog. “Students will also be exposed to presentations from city, county and state officials.” These students are also expected to be familiarized with employment opportunities in the local economy.

Another version of this class is offered to students who intend to join the International Baccalaureate (IB) program as juniors. “The course involves an in-depth study of the Age of Democratic Revolutions to the present. There is extensive note taking, reading, research and analysis of primary and secondary sources,” as the course catalogue explains.

We need to understand what happened and what was happening in the past and this class looks at the development of society and helps students to become better global citizens.